Brad Haddin
Bradley James Haddin (born 23 October 1977 in Cowra, New South Wales) is an Australian cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Haddin was selected in the first ever Mercantile Mutual Cup season of 1997–98 for the Canberra Comets, with whom he began his professional cricketing career. In the 1999–2000 season, he began playing for the New South Wales Blues to pursue further cricketing opportunities. Since then, he has produced several memorable batting innings, including a top score of 133 against Victoria. In September 2003, he replaced Simon Katich as captain of New South Wales, while Katich was on international duty, and he since been acting-captain on numerous occasions. He has also captained Australia A. For most of his career he was Australia A wicketkeeper but was drafted into the Australian squad as wicketkeeper if Adam Gilchrist was injured or rested. He made his international debut in a One Day International on 30 January 2001 against Zimbabwe in Hobart. He made one stumping and made 13 runs. He was demoted from second choice wicketkeeper for Australia in 2001 by Wade Seccombe and later Ryan Campbell, but reclaimed this position in late 2004. On 18 September 2006, playing against West Indies at Kuala Lumpur in the DLF Cup, Haddin and Australian captain Mike Hussey put on 165, which at that time was a world-record stand for the sixth wicket in ODIs. Haddin finally made his Test debut on 22 May 2008 against the West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica, after Adam Gilchrist retired, becoming Australia's 400th Test cricketer. Haddin was involved in a controversy relating to the dismissal of Neil Broom in an ODI between Australia and New Zealand in Perth in February 2009. Broom was given out bowled but replays clearly showed that Haddin's gloves had disturbed the bails. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori expressed his dissatisfaction with Haddin's actions in not calling Broom back to the wicket. His comment led to an angry retort from Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Ponting defended his team mate saying that Haddin was convinced the ball hit the stumps. On 15 February 2009, Haddin became acting Australian captain for the Twenty20 against New Zealand after Ricky Ponting was rested and Michael Clarke was injured. There is a debate as to who would be the successor of Haddin, but Graham Manou and Tim Paine are the frontrunners having already had international experience. On 9 March 2010, in the third match of the 2009–10 Chappell-Hadlee One Day International series against New Zealand, Haddin scored his second ODI hundred, hitting 110 off 121 balls opening the Australian innings. He was ruled out of the 2010 ODI series in England due to an elbow injury, which he claims flared up when he smashed that century against New Zealand in March. On 27 November 2010, in the opening match of the The Ashes series 2010–11 at The Gabba, Brisbane, Haddin scored 136, his third test hundred, in a valuable innings that helped Australia to a commanding first innings lead. He went on in the series to collect 360 runs at an average of 45.00. He was dropped for Australia's Twenty20 series against England in January 2011 in favour of Tim Paine, a decision which Haddin said had left him "confused". In the 2011 Indian Premier League season, Haddin was contracted by Kolkata Knight Riders for US$325,000. References Category:1977 births